New York Trip – Part 1

(It was Madan, Bhakyaraj, Vijay and Me - rocking NY City)

I was eagerly waiting for my friend Bhaky (Bhakyaraj) to return from office on Friday. I have asked him to get some printouts of Maps and Sites to see in NY. Bhaky called me and said that he has started from Office and would reach home in another 30 mins. In the meantime, I was replying to some of my mails. Bhaky reached home in 30 mins and got ready pretty quick. I asked Bhaky to take his car as I was tired driving for 12 hours. Soon we let the place and started to NY. Bhaky was driving and heading towards Vijay’s place.

There was a huge traffic on the road. Bhaky managed to change lanes often to make sure we were always on the faster lane. We reached Vijay’s place and called him down to guide us to the parking lot. The parking charge was 22 USD for 24 hours. We decided to park outside on the road, as it was legal to park on the streets here.

Parking
We found a place on the street to park, where the sign boards were confusing. The Sign board had “No Parking with an arrow upward” We thought it was a no parking area though we found a car parked on the same lane. We started hunting for alternate parking places. The next parking we could get on the streets was reserved for some companies/apartments. Frustrated Bhaky came back to the same place again to park the car. Now he read the sign board carefully and it was no parking beyond the post. That is why we had the arrow upward. After Bhaky’s analogy we parked the car with confidence and proceeded to the closest station. From there we took a train to the Times Square.

Times Square
We reached Times Square station. Madan had come down to Times Square waiting for us. Soon after three phone calls we met Madan. I greeted him with a hug and we started exploring NY. We started walking towards the brightest lights near Times Square.

Times Square was one of my dream destinations for years. As I walked through the Times Square, I felt great as I visited one of my dream destinations. In no time we got busy taking pictures.

The Tall Girl
We noticed a tall girl near Times Square. My friends were pushing me hard to ask her for a photograph with me. I did not have guts to ask her for a photograph. By the time I gained confidence, I realized she has moved away and was no longer in our sight.

Madame Tussauds vs Ripley's Museum Debate
It was 8.30 PM. We all ran into the Debate of Madame Tussauds vs Ripley's Museum. Madan preferred to keep Madame Tussauds for the second day as it would close down by 10.00PM. I was confident that we can make to Madame Tussauds in hour and half. I wanted to get this off my list on day one as we could save more time for the next day. Bhaky had been to Madame Tussauds once, he put his view point that it would take more than 3 hours inside. Experience Triumphs!!! We all decided to see Ripley’s Museum and it was open till 1.00 AM in the morning.

As we were deciding to go to Ripley's Museum, Madan reminded us about the dinner. Soon we decided to take dinner and get into the Museum.


Dinner in NY
We started searching for some restaurants as we were walking around the Times Square. The only one we could spot easily was McDonald's.

Soon we were proceeding in queue at McDonald’s to make our order. I was standing in line with my friend Madan. Bhaky and Vijay were standing outside the line busy watching the Menu boards and discussing with Madan on their orders. As we progressed to the Cashier, Madan started ordering and he asked me on what I want? I did not find any veggie item in the Menu. I asked the cashier “Do you have any Veggie item?” The cashier promptly replied “Yes Sir!!! We have Fish.”. This was not the first time I am hearing such reply in US. I asked her “Do you have something without meat or Fish”. She scanned through the menu and said “Sorry Sir. We don’t have”. Soon we all decided to find another restaurant. Madan asked her to cancel the order. We stepped out of McD and started to look out for other restaurants.

We found TGI Friday’s in the same street. It was so quick that we all decided TGI and we started heading into TGI. As we stepped inside the restaurant, I could smell only meat. The restaurant was fully packed and we were guided to the second floor. As we walked to the second floor the stench of meat started to increase. Soon I was not in mood to tolerate the smell. I asked my friends that we better find out another restaurant as it would be difficult for me to eat in such environment. My friends agreed to find out another place.

We started to search for a better place and we found another McD. This McD was bigger than the first one. We thought we could get something Veggie here. We all stepped in and found no Veggie item. I decided to go for French Fries and Orange Juice as we were all tired walking. At last we ordered and had our dinner at McD. (Later we reached Madan’s house at around 2.30 AM. We had another round of dinner - Indian food :)).

Ripley's Museum
It was close to Midnight as we left the Museum. It was an ultimate experience inside the Museum with all the odds in life. Especially, the experience in Black Hole was Thrilling.

Back to Madan’s Home
The plan was to go to Madan’s place for the night. We started back to the closest train station. We reached Vijay’s apartment soon. We had a clear view of the Manhattan and the Status of Liberty from Vijay’s room. The view was amazing!!!.

Vijay picked up his bag and we started to Madan’s place. We had another round of dinner in Madan’s house before we went to bed wishing Good Night!!!.

Thanks for your time. Do stop by again. There is more to share on my New York experiences in the next part. Your comments are most welcome.